Bidding Quiz                                   5th July, 2006

 

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

A nice easy one to start with!  West bids 4♥ here ... he has no idea whether or not it is going to make, but with 10 combined trumps he's prepared to compete to the 4-level, and does so immediately to crowd the auction for N-S.

 

P.S.  As it happens, the opponents can make 3♠, and 4♥ can be beaten one trick, so 4♥ is the place to be, even if doubled.  Better yet, 4♥ is quite likely to make as the winning defense is hard to find.

 

 

                                                    Board 2      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

After the Double, North has several bids from which to choose, none of them entirely satisfactory ... here are some options:

  3♦:       Nowadays, most partnerships play this as preemptive, so let's eliminate this one as a possibility, the

              hand is just too good, and the outside Ace is another deterrent.

  2♦:       Better than 3♦, but it doesn't do justice to the hand, even if later followed up with 3♦.

  1NT:   After the Double, this shows about 7-10 HCP, so it's right on values.  But the bid has a couple of

              defects ... it withholds that magnificent support for Partner, and North would be most uncomfortable

              if the bidding was up to 3♠ when it got back to her.  And the other obvious defect is that, if the hand

              belongs to N-S in No Trump, we'd much prefer that it be played by the South hand, putting the

              strong hand on lead and protecting South's Club and Heart holdings.

  2NT:   Playing Jordan over their takeout Double, this shows a limit raise in Diamonds ... it's a bit of an

             overbid, and will also wrong-side any No Trump contract.

  Rdbl:  Yes, another overbid, and way less defense than you would normally expect, but we still prefer

              it to all of the aforementioned ... sometimes there is no ideal bid, and we just have to improvise.

 

In practice, the Redouble might work rather well, slowing down the opponents and talking them out of their cold 3♠ contract.  N-S can make 9 tricks in Diamonds.

 

Post Script:  Perhaps we should not admit this in public, but over West's Double our real favorite is not Redouble at all!  No, we actually like 1♠!  An outrageous psyche?  Not in our view, it's no more of a mis-description than any of the other 5 bids we discussed above.  On the minus side, we do appear to be short a Spade ... on the plus side this bid doesn't misstate our values, it might allow Partner to bid No Trump, and it might talk the opponents out of a Spade contract.  If you are going to indulge yourself in an exotic bid, what better time to do it that when you have no good alternative bid available?

 

 

Board  4     Dealer West    Both Vul

 

 

Partner has opened, and we have 12 HCPs … it’s a moderate 12 though, and the hand is invitational rather than game-going … over 2♠ it would be nice to make an invitational raise in Diamonds, but 3♦ here would not be enough and would show perhaps a King less and a Diamond more.  In other words, 3♦ is more of a competitive bid than a constructive one.  So, although the Spade holding is far from ideal, we like 2NT here.

 

 

Board  4     Dealer West    Both Vul

 

Here are the West and East hands:

 

                   West                            East

                   ♠ JT872                      ♠ Q53

                   ♥ AT8                         ♥ Q6432

                   ♦ 2                               ♦ A85

                   ♣ KT85                       ♣ J6

 

North opens 1♦, giving East the chance to make a vulnerable overcall of 1♥.  Should he?  We don't think so.  Let's say East passes and now South bids 1♥.  Over to West.  Should he try 1♠?  Well, we certainly would, though it's hard to fault a Pass.  Just a minute!  Why is it OK for West to bid with his 8-count and wrong for East to chirp in with his 9-count?  There are several reasons:

(a) West's trump suit has fillers, East's doesn't;

(b) West also has useful looking fillers in the side-suits, East doesn't;

(c) West's honors are all working with other cards, East honors are all in not so splendid isolation;

(d) West has some shape, East doesn't.

 

Big difference in these two hands!

 

 

Board 6     Dealer East    E-W Vul

 

 

Let's take stock here, for a moment.   Our 2NT was the Jacoby 2NT, showing a game-forcing Spade raise, Partner's 3♥ showed shortness in that suit, and 4♣ and 4♦ were cue-bids.  Our 4NT was Roman Key Card Blackwood, and 5♦ showed 0 or 3. 

 

At this point we should be thinking about bidding 7.  Partner can hopefully ruff out our Heart losers, and we have no losers in the minors.  The only possible snag is the trump suit, or, more specifically, the Queen.  Can we find out about that card?  Yes, one commonly used device in the follow-up to Roman Key Card is for the cheapest non-sign-off to ask for that trump Queen.  So, in the auction above, 5♥ is the Queen Ask.  Suffice it to say here, if East shows trump Queen, West can take a shot at 7 ... and, if he denies that card, West will settle for the small slam.

 

                                                    Board 7       Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

West's hand just passes the Rule of Twenty but we would not open it ... too many Queens (one of which is a doubleton) for our taste.

 

P.S.  Just for the record, if we do open this hand, Partner with a 13-count will take us to 3NT ... down one.  If we pass, we'll stop in 2NT, making.  Virtue rewarded, for once.

 

 

Board 8      Dealer West     None Vul

 

 

At her first turn, South had a choice between a Negative Double and raising Diamonds.  The basic rule in these situations is to investigate the major suit first, so we would make a Negative Double, notwithstanding the putrid Spade quality and excellent Diamond support.  Of course, if it turns out that there is no Spade fit, we'll later compete vigorously in Diamonds.

 

 

Board  10    Dealer East     Both Vul

 

 

South could bid 4♥ directly, but she would make that bid with the same-shaped hand, minus the A♦ and K♣.  No, South should be showing a good 4♥ bid, not a preemptive 4♥ bid.  The way to do that is to cue-bid 4♦ here.  If they now compete to 4♠ or 5♦, Partner will be better positioned to decide whether to Pass, Double, or bid again.

 

South's 4♦ creates a Forcing Pass situation, allowing the partnership to judge better if the opponents compete to the 5-level.  For example, if (after 4♦) the opponents compete to the 5-level, the person over the 5-bidder has 3 options:

(a) Double, to discourage Partner from bidding again;

(b) Bid again, if that looks right;

(c) Pass, if in doubt, and safe in the knowledge that the Pass is forcing ... Partner must bid or Double.

 

 

Board 12      Dealer West      N-S Vul

 

 

In most situations, East’s hand would be something of a tweener, and either 1♠ or 2♠ would be quite reasonable.  But, when we realize that we are White versus Red, we should be leaning in the direction of the preempt.  And, when we also realize that we are in 3^rd seat, we should ratchet things up another notch and bid 3♠.

 

P.S.  3♠ works out rather well, as it happens, giving the opponents an excellent chance to go wrong ... opening 1♠ or 2♠ just doesn't get the job done.

 

                                                 

                                                Board 15      Dealer South        N-S Vul

 

 

This is a classic problem in 2/1 bidding, in fact E-W had an identical situation last week (Board 17).  Should South raise Clubs?  And if not, what should she do?  Here are the choices:

(a) Rebid 2NT ... no, not really a choice with that Jx in Diamonds;

(b) Raise Clubs ... the trouble with this is that Partner might get excited and go slamwards, expecting more from us than an ugly shapeless hand with just 3-card support;

(c) Bid 2♥ ... this is our choice, but it does require that you have the agreement that a major suit rebid by Opener, after a 2/1, does not guarantee a 6-card suit.  We try to avoid that 2♥ rebid on a 5-card suit, but sometimes, as here, it's the best alternative.

 

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

North has a pretty good hand, and should make at least one forward-going move.  We would bid 3♦ here, showing something in Diamonds.  This should sound like a slam move to Partner, after all, North could always bid 3NT directly if she had no slam aspirations.  Suppose that we do indeed bid 3♦ here, and Partner bids 3NT.  Are we worth another try?  It's pretty close, in our view, our own guess would be to pass.

 

P.S. The slam is not a good one, as it happens ... the A♠ must be lost, the Q♣ must come down (it does), and the J♠ must be found (it's a two-way guess, so good luck with that if you got to slam).

 

 

Board 16      Dealer West     E-W Vul

 

 

Some Rule of Twenty addicts will count up to 20 and open 1♣, but this useful device is more of a guideline than a rule.  Playing the Guideline of Twenty, the more discerning West will notice those two doubleton Queens, and downgrade his hand to a Pass.  However, if we were to put those Queens to better use, we would cheerfully open 1♣, as in the following hand:

                 ♠ 72

                 ♥ KQ87

                 ♦ T2

                 ♣ AQ954

Here, we have the same points and the same distribution as before.  But it's a far better hand, now those Queens are working well, so we'd open this one.

 

 

                                                    Board 17       Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

South’s 3♥ puts West on the spot.  Here are the options:

  Pass:    This is not really an option at all, the hand is just too good ... alas, Pass also happens to be the

               winning bid.  C'est la vie!

  4♦:        That's a pretty big bid for this hand, we think ... and it also takes us past 3NT, our most likely

               game.

  Dble:    Yes, that would be our choice, not that we are thrilled about our lack of a 4th Spade ... but at

               least it keeps 3NT in range.

 

 

Board 19      Dealer South    E-W Vul

 

 

After 1♥, South has the values for game, and could just bid 4♥ directly.  But, a more descriptive bid is available … yes, 3♦!  This is a jump reverse, and a good treatment for the bid is to play it as showing a (Heart) fit and shortness.  Although Splinters are usually thought of as a slam bidding tool, we suggest that the Jump Reverse be played as not game-forcing.  So, South would have made the same rebid, holding about a King less.  Using this treatment, the Jump Reverse can help us improve our game bidding, too.  Consider these two hands:                       

                            ♠ Q64                ♠ 972

                            ♥ AJ94              ♥ QT62

                            ♦ 9                     ♦ KQ87

                            ♣ AQJ74          ♣ K2

Opener has the values (after 1♣ 1♥) for a 3♥ rebid, after which Responder would no doubt guess to bid the (poor) game.  But, if the partnership has a Jump Reverse available, Responder will be warned off game by that unsuitable Diamond holding.  Here's another example:

                            ♠ Q64                ♠ K72

                            ♥ AJ94              ♥ QT65

                            ♦ 9                     ♦ 873

                            ♣ AQJ74          ♣ K32

Now, in the same situation as before, Responder can take a shot at game ... he has a lesser hand than before, but it's a more suitable one opposite Diamond shortness.

 

 

Board 24      Dealer West     None Vul

 

 

As South, would you have used Michaels with this hand?  Some partnerships prefer not to with that intermediate strength … they prefer to use Michaels only when their hand is weaker or stronger.  There is a lot to be said for this approach … if Partner can rely on your Michaels bids to be primarily preemptive, then his sacrifices won’t turn out to be phantoms.  As it happens, on the actual deal, N-S will get into a constructive auction after South decides to overcall with 1♠, and will reach a good contract of 4♠.  If we were to make South's hand just a little bit weaker, we would say that it would qualify for Michaels, it's pretty minimum to go the constructive route.

 

Board 25     Dealer North     E-W Vul

 

 

In competitive auctions, when we have yet to agree a major suit, our 3-level cue-bid of their suit is usually angling for 3NT, and the message is normally “Bid 3NT if you have their suit stopped”.  But here, the opponents are bidding two suits, and now the message changes … in this case, we cue-bid the suit that we have stopped, and hope that Partner can bid 3NT with the other suit stopped.  So, with both majors being bid by the opponents, West’s 3♠ bid shows something (and then some!) in Spades.  If East has something in Hearts, he can try 3NT.

 

                                                    Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

South has a very difficult problem here, one which has no really satisfactory solution.  Let’s look at the alternatives:

  2NT:    This shows invitational values, so it’s correct in that regard … but we don’t much care for our

               singleton, we’d prefer to make a more suit-oriented bid;

  3♣:       This gets our (so-called) second suit into the auction, but it’s an overbid, most partnerships play this

               as game-forcing;

  3♥:       This is our choice, but more by default than by conviction … it’s right on values, and it’s suit-oriented

               … sure, it’s supposed to show a 6^th Heart, but those fillers are such that a 5-2 Heart fit might play

               quite well opposite Qx or Kx (yes, we'd like our bid more if we had the 9♥) … and, if Partner opts

               for 3NT over 3♥, no doubt his points are outside Hearts, hopefully with a few of them in the

               Diamond department.

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Opposite Partner's unaided 5♣, West is looking at an astonishingly potent 6-count ... the perfect Heart holding (surely Partner is void), massive trump support, a singleton, and an Ace to boot.  Yes, West must bid slam here, praying that his side is not missing a grand slam!

 

 

Board 28      Dealer West      N-S Vul

 

 

If West sleepily passes here, N-S will probably buy it in 2♥ and have an easy run at a plus score.  But West has the chance to be more enterprising!  A take-out Double is called for!  It gets E-W into the auction fairly safely, and will usually push the opponents to the 3-level.  Is there a chance that West's Double will turn out badly (as in an adverse penalty)?  Yes, of course, it's possible ... but, E-W are not vulnerable, and we are most likely to have at least an 8-card fit in Spades and/or Diamonds.

 

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